Michal Drzymala

Michal Drzymala (13 September 1857-25 April 1937) was a Polish peasant who embarrassed the Prussian government by defying their Germanization policy. He came up with a cunning plan to circumvent the Prussian ban on the erection of permanent houses by Poles, living in a wagon; Prussian law said that a dwelling was a house if it remained stationary for a day, and Drzymala slightly moved his wagon every day to defy the law. The Prussians were unable to penalize him, and the nation was humiliated by Drzymala's defiance. He died in 1937 at the age of 79.